MW 'We just don't have the finances': Reality TV stars Heidi Montag and Spencer Pratt say they can't afford to rebuild home destroyed in L.A. fire

By Snejana Farberov

Steep rebuild estimates could be due to soaring construction costs and recent tariff policies, expert says.

In a recently published wide-ranging interview with The Independent, Montag revealed that it was unlikely that she, her husband, and their two sons will be able to return to the wealthy Los Angeles enclave of Pacific Palisades they once called home.

"They're saying it's going to cost $5 million to rebuild the house that cost a third of that," said "The Hills" alum. "We just don't have the finances, and I'm not sure we can keep our lot because you still have to pay a mortgage on it. I'm not sure what we're going to be able to do."

Since the outbreak of the deadly fires in early January, Montag and Pratt have been renting a home in nearby Santa Barbara, Calif., and trying to plan for the future.

"I'm just trying to work as hard as I can, as much as I can, to be able to afford any type of house or down payment on something for our kids," said Montag, whose new dance-pop album, "Heidiwood," drops on May 30.

According to property records previously reviewed by Realtor.com, Montag and Pratt purchased their three-bedroom, nearly 2,300-square-foot Pacific Palisades property in 2017 for $2.52 million, which is about half of what Montag claimed she was quoted to rebuild, rather than third. The property's value had soared to an estimated $3.8 million before the fire destroyed it.

The home's original listing described the property as offering spectacular views of the Santa Monica mountains and "nature's ever changing art scene."

Data from Realtor.com shows that the median list price for a single-family home in the Palisades was $4 million in May 2017-the same year Pratt and Montag purchased their property in town. As of this month, the typical home in the neighborhood cost a staggering $8.5 million, more than 50% higher than eight years ago.

Realtor.com senior economic research analyst Hannah Jones says the $5 million estimate Montag said she received to rebuild her burnt home could be due to soaring construction costs and President Donald Trump's recent tariff policies.

"Higher material costs, shifting labor supply, and permitting changes could all contribute to high home construction costs," says Jones. "More generally, building a home, especially a custom home, tends to cost more than purchasing a comparable existing home in a given area. Also, the recently announced tariffs increase the cost of many construction inputs, which is typically passed on to the buyer."

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TikTok videos capture the destruction

On Jan. 7, as a raging wildfire closed in on the star-studded community of Pacific Palisades, Pratt, 41, had his phone camera trained on the unfolding calamity, documenting the disaster for TikTok and Snapchat.

Pratt shared multiple videos showing black smoke and flames creeping toward their town, saying in one TikTok recording, "Nightmare came true."

Pratt, Montag, and their boys, Gunner and Ryker, were able to pack their belongings and evacuate to safety, but they witnessed their home being consumed by flames on their security video.

"We're so immersed in social media it's almost habitual to do so," Montag said in the new interview with The Independent, explaining the decision to share their plight with their online followers in real time.

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Pratt and Montag were among a host of celebrities who lost their homes in the natural disaster, including Leighton Meester and Adam Brody, Billy Crystal, Anna Faris, and Paris Hilton. Dozens more have been displaced.

Two weeks after the fires, Pratt and Montag, along with more than 20 other property owners, filed a lawsuit against Los Angeles, blaming the city and its municipal water department for the water scarcity that plaintiffs claimed hampered firefighting efforts and ultimately led to the damage to their homes.

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Slow rebuilding pace sparks outrage

Mandy Moore, whose family had several homes either destroyed or damaged by the Eaton fire in the area of Altadena, Calif., earlier this month used her Instagram platform to publicly lash out at Los Angeles County over the slow pace of rebuilding.

"Thanks, LA County for making it as frustrating and impossible to rebuild after the fires as possible," the star of "This Is Us" fumed in a post. "Shouldn't be surprised but it's mind boggling the red tape and hoops they're putting us all through."

As of May 24, just 11 permits have been issued in the area affected by the Eaton fire, with zero construction projects completed to date, according to the county's permitting progress dashboard.

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Meanwhile, the county issued just one building permit in the unincorporated parts of Pacific Palisades that fall under its jurisdiction.

At the same time, more than 30 permits related to postfire rebuilding have been issued since March by the Los Angeles Department of Building and Safety in those sections of the Palisades that fall within the L.A. city limits.

This story originally ran on Realtor.com.

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May 28, 2025 05:04 ET (09:04 GMT)

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